Frictional draft gear



R. J. COOK FRICTIONAL DRAFT GEAR May 13 1924i. 1,493,506 R. J. COOK.

FRICTIONAL DRAFT GEAR' Filed Deo. BOL 1918 5 Sheets-Sheet 2V Egg?JZT/OQX/Y/ May 13 1924i, v 1,493,606 R. J. COOK FRICTIONAL DRAFT GEARFiled Dec. 50 1918 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Wifi? (655,'

Patented May 13, 1924.

UN I 'I ED yS'T 1,493,606 P.arrflnrrr oiFFiciE.

ROY J'. COOK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNO'R TO 'GEORGE C. MURRAY, OFICHICA'GO, ILLINOIS.

FRICTIONAL DRAFT GEAR.

Application iea'nec'ember so,r 191s. smal No. 263,942.

To all .whom t may concer/a.'

Be it known that I, ROY J. COOK, acitizen .0f-the' UnitedStates,.residing at Chicago, in .the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFrictional Draft Gears, 0fwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to draft gears for railway ycars and the like,and its purpose is to provide an improved form of friction vdraft `gearcomprising an improved construction and arrangement of the frictional-gripping elements. The principal object of -the invention is to providea friction draft .gear having a large number of frictional grippingsurfaces, Vwhereby the apparatus operates more efficiently than frictiondraft kgears of the kind heretofore employed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from `thefollowing specification taken with the accompanying vdrawings in whichone embodiment is illustrated. f

In the drawings- Figure 1 shows a top plan view 'of my improved draftgear illustrating a portion thereof in horizontal section on the lineV11 of Fig. A2;

Fig. y2 shows a transverse sectional view Ftaken on the lvline 2-2ofFig. 1;

'F.ig. 3 shows a perspective view of one of the casings in which thefriction 'blocks vand other elements are mounted;

Fig-4 shows a side elevation of the draft y,f gearwith the -lower partthereof illustrated in `vertical section on the line L1--4v of Fig. y2;

Fig. `5 shows a perspective view of Vone of the friction blocks;

Fig. 6 shows a' perspective view of another friction block;

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a third `form of friction block whichis surrounded by theform of block illustrated in Fig. 6.

In the drawings, the draft gear is illustrated 'as being mounted in theusual man Aner between the parallel draft sills 10 which have the draft'lugs 11 lsecured thereto by rivets 12. The-draft rigging is supportedby the carrier bars 13 which-extend 'between .the draft sills and aresecuredto the lower .flanges thereof, these draft sills being of channelform, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The draft rigging comprises va draftyoke 15 which is rigidly connected by rivets 16 to .the butt 17a of thecoupler 17. The lower` .arm of the draft yoke 15 rests in thedepressions or channels 13a1of the carrier bars 13, as shown in Fig. 2.

The friction draft rigging is carried by the yoke 15 and it comprisestwo boxlike casings 18 of the form shown particularly 1n -F1g.3. Thesecasings -are arranged to face toward each other within the yoke, therear wall 19 of one casing" seating against the rear face of theycoupler butt 17a and engaging the shoulders of the forward draft lugs11, while the rear wall 19 of the other casing seats against the rearwall vof the yoke 15 and vengages the shoulders of the rear draft lugs11. Each casing 18 comprises parallel upper and lower walls 2O and 21,respectively, which are formed integrally with the outwardly divergingvertical walls 22. Reinforcing ribs or anges 23 extend from each of theinclined walls 22 to the rear wall 19, and the the same as the anglebetween the walls 25a and 25h, and this may preferably be about onevhundred and thirty degrees. Reinforcing ribs'25c extend between each ofthe .parts 25a and the adjacent part 25". The inner surfaces of theconverging walls 25a of the block 25 are adapted to coact with the walls26a of otherv friction blocks 26 which are mounted centrally between theblocks r25 and which have other surfaces'26b inclined i Iwith respect tothe surfaces 26a and adapted to coact with the vsurfaces vof the centralfriction block 27 which is substantially `diamond-shaped incross-section, as shown in Figs. 1 and 7. The blocks 26 are providedwith three frictional sides, including the surfaces 26", whichvcoactwith the spring caps 29. These spring caps are mounted .within thecasings 18 and seat against the coil springs 30' which abut .atrtheirother vends against the inner surfaces of the rear walls 19 of thecasings 18. The spring caps A 29 are provided withk lugs or dowel pins29a which extend into the springs to prevent displacement thereof, andthe rear walls 19 are provided with other dowel pins 19fL adapted toextend into the springs at their other ends.

The blocks 26 are provided with notches .26e which are adapted to engagethe strengthening ribs 25c of the blocks 25 when kthe members 26 arepushed outwardly by the compression ofthe draft gear. It will be seenthat portions of each of the blocks 25, 26 and 27 rest upon the lowerwalls 21 of the casings 18, which lower walls extend beyond the forwardedges of the inclined walls'22, so that all parts of the draft riggingare self-supporting within the yoke,

lt. will be observed that each of the two friction blocks 25 have twosurfaces coacting with corresponding surfaces on the walls 22 of thecasings 18 and each of these blocks 25 is further provided with twocentrally converging surfaces which coact with the surfaces 261L of theblocks 26. Each of the blocks 26 is provided with another surface 26hwhich coacts with one of the surfaces of the central lblock 27, and inaddition each of the blocks 26 has a friction surface 26C engaging oneofthe spring caps 29, so that a very large number of contacting surfacesare provided for furnishing a frictional resistance to the compressionof the draft gear.

l/Vhen the draw-bar 17 is moved rearwardly, the forward casing 18 is'carried rearwardly by the direct engagement therewith of the couplerbutt, and, at, the same time, the engagement of the walls`22 of theforward casing with thewalls 251 of the intermediate blocks 25'serve topush the blocks 25 inwardly and rearwardly as these blocks ride on thewalls 22 of the rear casings 18. At the same time, the intermediatefriction blocks 26 are forced against the central block 27 and are thuscaused to separate asthey move outwardly on the wedge blocks 2.5 towardthe ends of the yoke. rlhis movementforces the spring caps 29 and thewalls 19 of the casings 18toward each other and results in thecompression of the springs 80., ldhen the draw-bar 17 is pulled in aforward direction, the rear casing 18 is moved in a forward direction`by the direct engagement therewith of the rearwall of the yoke and thefriction blocks are operated in the vmanner previously described, but inthe opposite direction, since in this case the forward casing 18 remainsstationary against the forward draft lugs 11.

Although I have shown and described a single'embodiment of the inventionfor purposes 'of illustration, it will be understood that it may beconstructed in various different forms without departing from the scopeof the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination in a draft gear of a yoke, a pair of casings mountedwithin said yolre and having oppositely disposed outwardly inclined sideflanges,"side friction blocks supported by said casings and havinginclined surfaces adapted to coact with said fianges, said side frictionblocks being integrally formed and being each provided with a pair ofinwardly converging surfaces located longitudinally of the draft gearbetween said iirst-named surfaces, intermediate wedge blocks locatedbetween said side wedge blocks and coacting therewith, and springmechanism located between said intermediate wedge blocks and saidcasings.

2. The combination in a draft gear of a yoke, a pair of casings mountedwithin said yoke and having oppositely disposed inclined fianges whichdiverge outwardly in pairs, a pair of integral one piece side frictionblocks extending between said casings and having surfaces coacting withsaid flanges, said side friction blocks converging inwardly toward eachother between said casings and between said surfaces which coact withsaid flanges, and intermediate friction blocks coacting with theinwardly converging parts of said side friction blocks.

3. The combination in a draft gear of' two casings adapted to be mountedin opposite ends of a yoke, each of said casings having a pair ofdivergingfianges, lfriction blocks supported by said casings andcoacting with said flanges, intermediate friction blocks located betweenand coacting with said rst-named friction blocks, spring caps havingfriction surfaces extending transversely of the yoke and adapted tocoact with opposite sides of said intermediate friction blocks, andsprings extending between said caps and said casings.

f1. The combination in a draft gear of a pair of casings provided withoppositely disposed diverging flanges, side wedge blocks extendingbetween said casings and coacting with said flanges, intermediate wedgeblocks located between and coacting with said side `wedge blocks, springcaps frictionally engaging said intermediate wedge blocks, and springsextending between said spring` caps and said casings.

5. The combination in a draft gear, of two casings each havingoppositely disposed diverging frictional surfaces, friction blocksextending between and coacting with the oppositely disposed frictionalsurfaces of said casings, said friction blocks having intermediateconverging friction surfaces, intermediate friction blocks coacting withsaid last-named frictional surfaces of said firstnamed friction blocks,a central wedge block interposed between and coacting with saidintermediate friction blocks, plates coacting with said intermediatefriction blocks, and '11130 springs interposed between said plates andthe end walls of said casings.

6. The combination in a draft gear, of two oppositely disposed pairs offrictional flanges inclined with respect tothe longitudinal axis of thedraft gear, friction blocks extending between and coacting with saidfrictional flanges of opposite pairs, said friction blocks havingintermediate converging surfaces, intermediate friction blocks ofirregular cross-section coacting with said intermediate frictionalsurfaces of said firstnamed friction blocks, spring caps engagingopposite sides of a plurality of said intermediate friction blocks,springs engaging said spring caps, and means for holding the other endsof said springs in fixed relation with respect to said first-mentionedfrictional flanges.

7. The combination in a draft gear, of two oppositely disposed pairs offrictional flanges inclined with respect tov the longitudinal axis ofthe draft gear, friction blocks extending between and coacting with saidfrictiona-l. flanges, said friction blocks having intermediateconverging surfaces, a plurality-of intermediate friction blocks eachhaving an inclined surface to coact with one of the convergingintermediate surfaces of said first-named friction blocks, a centralfriction block having two pairs of surfaces each inclined to thelongitudinal axis of said draft gear and adapted to coact with similarlyinclined surfaces on said 'intermediate frictionr blocks, andcompression devices engaging opposite end faces of said intermediatefriction blocks.

8. The combination in a draft gear, of twoy oppositely disposed pairs offrictional flanges inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of thedraft gear, friction blocks extending between and coacting with saidfrictional flanges, said friction blocks having intermediate convergingsurfaces, a plurality of intermediate friction blocks reach having aninclined surface to coact with one of the converging intermediatesurfaces of said first-named friction blocks, a central friction blockhaving two pairs of surfaces each inclined to the longitudinal axis ofsaid draft gear and adapted to coact with similarly inclined surfaces onsaid intermediate friction blocks, said intermediate friction blockshaving other surfaces lying in planes normal to the longitudinal axis ofsaid draft gear, spring caps engaging said last named surfaces of saidintermediate friction blocks, and springs coacting with said springcaps.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

ROY J. COOK.

